HispanicBusiness

Sonya Andrews may not be the first on her block to tap into Google Inc.'s much-hyped, hyper-fast Internet hook-ups announced Thursday.

But her neighborhood could be one of the first in Kansas City to get an express lane to the web.

"I don't know about anyone else," she emailed her Coleman Highlands neighbors in midtown, "but I am super excited about this and hope that others are too!"

Enough were jazzed by the possibility of buying Internet access from Google that by Thursday afternoon the company was committed to run its crews there -- eventually.

Andrews' Google evangelism is just what the California technology titan was hoping for from its effort to "rally" Kansas Citians to the company's long-awaited, first-in-the-nation Internet services.

Google first announced plans to launch the service in 2010, but until now had revealed few specifics.

On Thursday it issued a now-or-never challenge to nearly all of Kansas City, Kan., and a central swath of Kansas City "fiberhoods" -- Google-speak for neighborhoods where it might run its fiber optic network.

--Get 10 percent of the homes in your area to sign up for service -- it takes a $10 deposit -- and Google will eventually hook you up.

--Meet that quota by Sept. 9, or the network will fly around you. And if Google does come to your neighborhood, you'll have just once chance for installation.

South Kansas City and the area north of the Missouri River could get similar offers later.

Google unveiled the details of its coming TV and Internet services Thursday -- even offering "free" access to the web -- and the novel rollout strategy that transforms customers into marketers.

The web-search company announced that a bundle of TV and ultra-fast Internet will sell for $120 a month. That includes three devices needed to stream Wi-Fi signals and to store large amounts of computer data and TV programming. It will also come with a Nexus 7 -- an iPad-like device that runs on Google's Android operating system.

"Not just Internet TV, but real TV with your favorite channels," said Milo Medin, vice president of access services at Google.

The company's demonstration of the TV service appeared as impressive as any DVR-type service on the market. It allows people to control the TV with the Nexus tablet, with their smartphones or with old-fashioned remote controls. A household will be able to record eight shows at a time, store 500 hours and search through "tens of thousands" of on-demand movies in Google's catalogue, in addition to Netflix accounts.

The TV package has big holes in programming, however. It lacks ESPN, the most popular and expensive part of most cable packages, and other Disney Corp. offerings.

"We're launching Google Fiber with content providers who share our vision," a Google spokeswoman said in an email when asked about the missing channels. "Over time, we will be expanding our TV package well beyond the channels it currently includes."

Or you can get stand-alone Internet at speeds more than 100 times faster than most broadband for $70. By comparison, Comcast Corp. recently announced it would sell speeds of 305 megabits per second -- Google's offering is three times faster -- for $300 a month.

Both the TV and Internet-only deals come with two-year contracts, for which the company said it will waive a $300 installation charge.